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SEC Chair Mary Jo White to step down

President-elect Donald Trump and Congress will need to fill three out of five seats in the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC's Mary Jo White testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. 
The SEC's Mary Jo White testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. 
Zach Gibson/Getty Images

If you have money in the stock market, then the work of the Securities and Exchange Commission affects you. It’s the group tasked with protecting investors and keeping the market functioning smoothly — basically a Wall Street watchdog. The leadership of that group is getting ready to change, with SEC Chair Mary Jo White announcing she will leave the post when President Barack Obama leaves office. That will leave just two of the five seats on the commission occupied, meaning President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will need to fill the other three once Trump is in office.

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